On a side street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 16 people filed up a ramp, disappearing into the back of a 24-foot-long Ford F750 truck for an evening of theater.

Welcome to the Truck Project, an evening of one-act plays featuring actors/writers/directors Eric John Meyer and
Jean Ann Douglass.
The first play, "Obfuscation," is a comedy about communication, while the second, "Fish," is a surreal look at relationships that involves a "therapy fish." After a previous run that concluded earlier this month, the Truck Project returns Friday and plays until June 29.

The two shows have different sets and configurations. In the first, audience members sit in two rows of chairs inches away from the performers, while in the second they relax on cushions on either side of the truck.

"It's a gimmick, but it's a way to get heard," said Blase Theodore, a 32-year-old Greenpoint resident, after a performance in late May.

"It's very intimate," added Marz Zavelevich, 28, who lives in Midwood. "Better than seeing a show in a theater."

The double-header is just strange enough that when things go awry—a tipsy passerby shouts something from outside the truck, or the vehicle's battery dies, leaving the performers to resort to flashlights—audiences think they are parts of the show.

ENLARGE

Eric John Meyer, left, and Jean Ann Douglass load props into the 24-foot-long Budget rental truck that they use as a theater.
Claudio Papapietro for The Wall Street Journal

"They always say, 'I liked how you did that,' " Ms. Douglass said.

She first conceived of using a truck as a sort of rebellion against her Brooklyn College master's thesis in performance and interactive media arts. "It was all high-tech performance art, emphasizing projections and technology and working on a team," she said. "I wanted to reject that and go as low-tech as possible and do it all myself."

Ms. Douglass made her truck debut in 2010. She and Mr. Meyer met at a different show of hers, and they started doing two solo shows in the truck. Even though they locked their keys in the cab twice on their first day, they stuck with it. They began dating and were married last June.

While they can't perform in the coldest or hottest months, the truck gives them full control of their schedule and theatrical space—they have even created a tiny backstage area for props. And it is a fraction of the cost of renting an actual theater. The truck rental can cost as little as $31.89 a day before insurance if Ms. Douglass digs up an online coupon. Tickets for the performances run $35 to $40.

The couple lives in Bushwick, where parking is easy, Mr. Meyer said: "It's one of the reasons I moved here."

"It speaks to the economic state of theater," said
Cara Francis,
31, of Williamsburg, after seeing the show. "They're being proactive about trying new work on a budget in a radical way."

Sarah Murphy,
28, of Bushwick, said sitting just inches from the performers without stage lights "can make you nervous, and the first play seems designed to make you a little anxious."

While Ms. Douglass sometimes likes to look into the eyes of audience members who seem uncomfortable, the two are careful not to push it too far if, for instance, someone starts staring at his lap.

"We want it to be unexpected and peculiar, but we don't want them to have a terrible night,' Mr. Meyer said.

They are working on new shows with the goal of amassing a repertory. They have day jobs—Ms. Douglass is a program director at Fractured Atlas, which helps artists with insurance and other services, and Mr. Meyer is a copywriter at Penguin Random House—and are considering works for traditional theaters.

For now, however, they have found their bliss in the Truck Project, where they handle everything from taking tickets to driving the stage home at the end of the night.

"It's still really exciting," Mr. Meyer said, "just doing this as just the two of us in our truck."

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